This is a discussion on Karnataka Road Tax, Crack down announced.EDIT: High Court Judgement on Pg 36 attached within The Indian Car Scene, part of the BHP India category; How can we understand what exactly the law states ? If what the under secretary tells is correct, then how ...

How can we understand what exactly the law states ? If what the under secretary tells is correct, then how come RTO in Bangy is collecting tax from which ever non KA vehicle ? Is there some amendment to this law in each state ?
I think we might have to get the help of a lawyer to clarify this point.

Infact I had written to the Ministry of Surface Transport and this is what I got as response.

I appreciate your step, even once I had written to ministry but did not get response. We all need to constantly write to them in order to take the attention and think over it. I would like to ask them, Why central government employee waved of such rules and payment of tax?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Make it like the west. Remove lifetime tax
Person has to pay tax every year, and depending upon where he/she is located currently(at the time of expiry of reg), he pays tax.
Simple.

I am directed to refer to your e-mail dated 18/7/2008 on the above noted subject and to say that as per Section 47 of the M.V. Act, 1988 the vehicle owner has to seek fresh registration of vehicle under the new Transport Authority in case the vehicle is transferred to a new state and kept for more than 12 months.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/-
(P.P.Nair)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

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As per this mail, road tax has to be paid only after a period of 12 months in any other state. I think this is the part that needs clarity.

Joe,

This is clearly indicating that if a vehicle is kept for more than 12 months (not sure if continously) only then one needs to pay the LTT. Did you get this is form of a Email or a Hard Copy???

Make it like the west. Remove lifetime tax
Person has to pay tax every year, and depending upon where he/she is located currently(at the time of expiry of reg), he pays tax.
Simple.

A slight alteration on this.

Actually people should be given the option of paying it yearly or life time.
because if the customer is planning to keep the vehicle for a longer period(more than 5yrs) then it becomes a headache to renew it yearly.

Since central govt employees are exempted from this LTT payment when ever they migrate, my question is, why can't others too be for the same reason ? Is it not discrimination based on the employer ? My feeling is this can be challenged in a court .

@joecherian - very valid point you have there. The MV act says keep the vehicle in another state for more than 12 months, and you need to re-register; but the Karnataka law says "Central govt. employees need not re-register their venicles". And then want tax from people who frequently enter Karnataka, without keeping their vehicles in Karnataka. Now, that is certainly discrimination.

Following a decrease in vehicle registrations in the last two months, the transport department has decided to undertake a massive drive against vehicles which do not have a Karnataka registration. According to the officials, the department has collected fines worth Rs 1.57 crore in the last two months, which is a record. This drive will continue in other parts of state too.
Transport commissioner Bhaskar Rao said, “People with vehicles registered in other states will have to register their vehicles in Karnataka too. There will be a month-long relaxation for them after which they will have to register with the concerned RTO offices.”
Action will be taken against all kinds of vehicle owners who fail to pay registration tax. Action has been taken against non-transport vehicle in the last two months. More than 200 vehicles have been booked, he added.
Indiranagar RTO B R Vijaykumar said, “We have already advised vehicle owners of other states who are plying on Bangalore roads with non-Karnataka registration to pay road tax here and get the address changed immediately. People don’t come voluntarily to pay tax until we start fining them. Once they pay the tax, refund is allowed at the time of taking the vehicle back to the concerned state. No refund will be made if the tax is collected during a drive.”
According to senior RTO officers, there were 90 lakh registered vehicles on the streets of Bangalore in September 2008. The figure was 75 lakh in 2007 and65 lakh in 2006. Apart from these, there are the floating vehicles - those coming from other places.
Radhanath, a techie from Orissa who was caught near Indiranagar two days ago, said, “I did not know about the tax to be paid. When the RTO officials caught me, I did not have any money in my pockets because of which I had to suffer for a while.”
Kochi-based techie Renjith Krishnan says he has plans to purchase a car from Kochi and he wants to drive it around in Bangalore. “There is a huge difference in road tax between Kochi and Bangalore. If I have to pay Rs 45,000 there, the amount here is as high as Rs 1,00,000. If I purchase a car in Kochi, it will save me Rs 55,000,” he says.

I sometimes wonder what these guys have to show for the high taxes they collect from people like us. Anyways, dont want to turn this into another crib session. I guess its time to pay the registration charges. Have been escaping for a while now (touchwood). Anyways I guess this should be ok as what i pay here, I can recover by showing the petrol and maintenance bills to the company and save tax. Couldnt do this earlier as the company needs the vehicle to be KA registered.
:(

in their PoV, they're right : pay tax in another state, and that sate gets the revenue. Revenue that would have been used, atleast in part, for maintenance of roads & infrastructure. if the car is used here, then that tax revenue rightfully must be paid to the govt here.

The elevated expressways etc are funded also out of that tax money. So when you use that e'way here, then why shouldnt you pay the tax here ?

NOTE:
How much of that tax money is actually used for the maintenance & betterment of the infra is a different point & line of debate.

Guys, has anyone paid the tax till now? Would like to hear from you and get an idea regarding the money I would need to shell out. I have a 3.5 years old Ford Ikon Flair.

Edit: Just called the RTO Indiranagar. The lady I spoke to says I need to have the NOC from the HR RTO to pay tax. Should I just follow the instructions given here: http://rto.kar.nic.in/faq1.htm ?
Is the NOC really required?